Other events in Baltic States

The exhibition "Portraits of the Rulers and Magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from Museums in Ukraine", which represents one of the big international highlights of the Year of Museums (2012) in Lithuania will open on July 4 and last until October 28 in Lithuanian Art Museum based in Vilnius, the Art Museum said in a statement.

The exhibition also marks successful collaboration between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine as well as the staffs of five large Lithuanian and Ukrainian museums in putting this exhibition together as part of the 2011 – 2015 cultural cooperation program between the two countries.

The patronage of this exhibition by the ministers of culture of Lithuania and Ukraine is testimony to the shared historical and cultural heritage of these two countries, their shared historical memory, and the long-lived vitality of their state and artistic relations.

This exhibition which is dedicated to the past and heritage of the early Lithuanian state that once united Lithuanians and Ukrainians – the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – will open doors on July 4, the eve of the national holiday celebrating the anniversary of the coronation of King Mindaugas, which marked the beginning of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

This exceptional exhibition from the point of view of Lithuanian history, culture, and iconography showcases 86 portraits of Lithuania's and Poland's rulers and their wives, magnates and high-ranking state officials and their families, and of Church dignitaries painted during the 16th – 19th centuries by local and renowned foreign artists. There are 20 portraits of women, 62 images of men, and four portraits of children.

Until now, most of these portraits have been kept in museum storage rooms and not put on display. Only some of them have been described in scholarly literature.